THf TRd^CAL AQR10ULTUR18T. 
[January i, 1892. 
All the ground is gone over first with the machete' 
a long, heavy, cutlass-line knife, which the negro 
uses either as a tool or veeapon. All trees and un- 
erbush are cut down except the very large ones, 
which require an axe. Then the stumps are grulabed 
up so far as they are likely to interfere with the 
work. Next, fire is employed, and quickly runs over 
the acres where the negroes have toiled in gangs 
with their cutlasses. In this work of clearing, 
women are often found more satisfactory as labor- 
era than men, and they receive but thirty-six cents 
where the men get fifty cents. Few laborers are 
jiaid by the day. Task work, i.e. so much for clear- 
ing a piece of land of a given size, called a " task 
of land," is the usual method. In clearing brush- 
land in the Bahamas, one-fourth of an acre ia a 
iask. When, at last, all the clearing and planting 
lias been done and thousands upon thousands of 
/perfect plants, in absolute symmetry of arrangement, 
with unbroken ranks, their rich green showing no 
Jblemish, stretch before the eye, the spectator (es- 
pecially if he happens to have a financial interest 
in the plantation) feels that there is a beauty apart 
'from mere picturesqueness. 
The present boom in Sisal in the Bahamas, al- 
though, like all excitements of the kind, doomed, 
without doubt, to considerable depression in the 
future, will not be without beneficial results. Even 
with the great falling off in enthusiasm which the 
next two or three years are likely to bring, there 
wiU remain a new industry, a source of greater 
prosperity to a people who have been for many years 
ftlmost inactive. — Nassau Guardian. 
BOTANY AND NOMENCLATUEE OF CACAO 
WITH DESCEIPTION OF TYPICAL 
FOEMS, Etc., Etc. 
Under this heading Mr. Hart, Director of 
Botonioal Gardens in Trinidad, contributes an ela- 
borate article to the Agncultural Record, as follows : — 
The name which Linnsaua conferred upon this 
^lant is derived from the Greek Theos (god) and 
Broma (food) or " Food for the gods." 
There are several species of the genus, which is 
^native of tropical regions extending from Mexico to 
Brazil, and among the knovm species are the follow- 
ing: — Theobroma hicolor, T. c/uianensis, T. sylvestris, 
T. ovatifolia, T. angustifoUa—al\ said to be distinct 
from our cultivated Theobroma cacao, L., and its va- 
rieties, or the kind from which the major quantity 
of the marketable product known as cacao or " cocoa " 
is derived. 
The Mexicans give to Theobroma cacao the name 
of Cacaoquahuitl, which has been in a great mea- 
sure retained in the word chocolate. The trees of 
■Theobroma cacao grow in some places to forty feet 
in height, the vsriter having seen them of this size 
in the province of Veragua when travelling there 
in 1885, but the usual height of the Trinidad tree 
averages about fiiteen or twenty feet, the lateral 
diameter of its branches being about the same 
measurement. In Grenada, Tobago and St. Vincent 
the tree is generally of smaller size. 
The Bqtanical characters of the genus are given 
in Griesbach's Flora of the British West Indies, 
J). 91, as follows : — 
ORDER 8TERCULIACEJE. 
TeIBE BUETTNEEIEiE. 
Calyx 5 partite, colored. Petals 5; limb cucuUate, 
'vnth a terminal, apathulate appendage. Column 10-fid : 
fertile hies hi-antheriferous : anthers bilocular. Style b-fid. 
Fruit baccate, h-ceUed : celh jndpy, polyspermous. Jim- 
hryo exalljurninovs : cotyledons fleshy, corrugate. Trees ; 
leaves entire ; pedicels fascicled or solitary, lateral. 
Tho description of our species is given in the same 
work in similar terms : — 
2'. Cacao, L. — Leaves oblong, acuminate, glabrous, 
quite entire ; flowers fascicled ; pericatp ovid-ohlong, 10 
coatate. Calyx rose-colored ; segments lanceolate, acumi- 
jmK*) exet^^ing the ydlowieh owoUa ; periQW^ yclloiv or 
reddish, leathery 6 to 8 inches long. Halntat, Trinidad 
— De Schach. Naturalized in Jamaica ! Dist. St. 
Lucia/ Anderson. (Chiiana and Brazil!) 
The various names under which the varieties of 
this tree (Theobroma cacao) are known do not consti- 
tute species, but must be merely considered as varie- 
ties of one original species. These varieties pro- 
bably owe their origin to seed variation, together 
with the influence of soil and climate, and to 
enumerate the whole of their names would serve 
no useful purpose. 
Mr. Morris's clasification* was based upon the 
nomenclature of some of the best estates in Trinidad 
and has stood the test of ten years' criticism without 
serious contradiction, and may well be adopted for 
Trinidad with slight modification. It must be ad- 
mitted that the local nomenclature of various districts 
differs much, one with another, and it would therefore 
be a hopeless task to attempt to reconcile these names. 
It is but patent to a close observer that there are 
certain characters of cacao more strongly marked than 
others, as exemplified in the varieties known as 
CrioUa, Forastero and Calabacillo, though Mr. Morris 
contents himself with forming them into two great 
classes, "GrioUo and Forastero," and he gives the 
Calabacillo as a variety only of Forastero. 
Judging from a series of observations it would be 
better I am inclined to think, to make three classes, 
placing CrioUo as Class I., Forastero as Class II., 
and Calabacillo as Class III., being the lowest type 
of the species. 
Class I. CRIOLLO — oh fine thik-skinned vabieties. 
1. Var. a. Amarillo. 
2. ,, b. Colorado. 
Class 11. FORASTERO— or thick-skinned cacao. 
3. Yar. a. Cundeamor verugosa amarillo. 
4. „ 6. „ „ Colorado. 
5. „ c. Ordinary amarillo. 
6. ., d. „ Colorado. 
7. „ e. Amelonado amarillo. 
8. „ /. „ Colorado, 
Class III. CALABACILLO— or small-podded, 
THICK, smooth-skinned, FLAT-BEANED. 
9. Var. a. Amarillo. 
10. ,, b. Colorado. 
The finest cacao is by general consent a.dmitted 
to be produced by the Criollo variety, and this is 
assumed to be identical or similar in character to 
that called the Caracas variety. In the Consular 
Report on the agricultural condition of Columbia, 
Consul Dickson mentions that "the vaiiety chiefly grown 
in Columbia is different to that of Venezuela, ichich pro- 
duces Caracas cacao, the pods being much larger, and 
containing a greater number of beans, but as the number 
of pods produed by a tree is greater, it is probable that 
on the toTtole the Venezuelan variety is the moreproductive 
of the two. The equality of Columbian cacao is little, if at 
all, inferior to that of the Venezuelan, but it is little knmon 
in commerce, as only an insigniflcant amount is exported, 
the supply scarcely satisfying the demand of the country." 
What this variety spoken of by Consul Dickson may 
be, we have no means of correctly ascertaining at 
present, but from the comparison with the Caracas 
variety given by Mr. Dickson we might assume that 
it was very near to, if not synonymous wdth our 
Forastero, and it is to be noted that such a variety 
would also be "Forastero" or foreign to the Caracas 
people. 
Dr. Trimen of Ceylon, in his annual Report for 
1890, falls into the error of interpreting the word 
"Criollo" as being synonymous with "wild." 
It is well knov»n, however, that the word is never 
used in this sense in the West Indies, the true in- 
terpretation of the word " Creole " being — one born 
* " Cacao, How to grow and how to cure it." 
(Jamacia, 1882.) 
\ No. 1, red Creole No. 2, yellow Creole. Nos.Sand 
4, Cundeamor, is denved from the Spanish name -of the 
" Cerasee" (Moiiordica Charantiaj tvhich possesses a 
peculiar ^ warted ap)pearance. Thus the name means 
Momordica-shapei! rough red or yeUow cacao. Nos. 7 
and 8 arc Amelonndoor melon-shaped, red and yellow cacOO. 
CoMmUlo, «vM'' 'Mh-$koff&i coQm, re^an^ yellow. 
